WO2000008366A1

WO2000008366A1 - Auxiliary valve member

Info

Publication number: WO2000008366A1
Application number: PCT/AU1999/000593
Authority: WO
Inventors: David John Mcdonald
Original assignee: Wonder Tap Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1998-08-07
Filing date: 1999-07-22
Publication date: 2000-02-17
Also published as: AUPP510598A0

Abstract

An auxiliary valve member for a tap which has a tap body (10) such as a breach having an internal screw thread (18) made up of a deeper screw thread portion (21) and a more shallow screw thread portion (22). The member includes a housing (50) which has a screw thread (60) for screwing into the screw thread (18) so as to engage in the deeper screw thread portion (21) and leaving the shallowest screw thread portion (22) exposed. The housing (50) has a valve element (74) for selectively allowing or shutting off flow of fluid through the housing (50). A valve seat (90) is provided in the housing (50) for engagement by a main valve (30) connected to a spindle (28) of the tap, a seal portion (74) on the housing (50) engages a seat (14) on the body (10) when the housing (50) is screwed into the body (10). The tap spindle (20) is screwed into the shallowest screw thread part (22) when the main spindle (20) is removed for maintenance the pressure in the tap body (12) causes the valve element (74) to shut off flow of water through the housing (50).

Description

AUXILIARY VALVE MEMBER

This invention relates to an auxiliary valve member for shutting off flow of water through a tap when the tap is disassembled for maintenance.

The present invention represents an improvement to the auxiliary valve member disclosed in our Australian Patent Application No. 694123, the contents of which is incorporated into this specification by this reference.

As explained in our above mentioned Australian application, it is often necessary to disassemble a tap for maintenance purposes and, in particular, to replace the main valve member or washer to prevent dripping of the tap. In order to do this, it is necessary to shut off the flow of water to the tap from a mains and this is disadvantageous, particularly if other taps are associated with the same mains supply and are also shut off when the mains is shut off to enable maintenance on one of the taps.

Our earlier application disclosed an auxiliary valve member which can enable the tap to be dismantled without the need to shut off mains water supply and is suitable for many applications. The present invention relates specifically to the use of an auxiliary valve member in taps associated with breeches which are mounted in walls and which are often associated with water supply to basins, shower facilities and the like in domestic dwellings.

The invention may be said to reside in an auxiliary valve member for a tap having a tap body, the body having an inlet, a seat and an internal screw-thread having a deep thread part and a shallower thread part; a tap spindle carrying a main valve and having an external screw-thread; the auxiliary valve member including: a housing having an external screw-thread for engaging the deep screw-thread part in the body and leaving the shallower screw-thread part exposed; a seal portion on the housing for engaging the seat of the body when the housing is screwed into the shallower screw-thread part; an inlet in the housing for enabling water to flow from the inlet of the body through the inlet of the housing into the housing; an auxiliary valve in the housing for shutting off flow of water through the inlet in the housing; an outlet from the housing for enabling water to flow from the housing; and a valve seat in the housing for engagement by the main valve of the tap spindle so as to selectively enable water to flow through the housing to the outlet; and wherein when the auxiliary valve member is screwed into the deep screw-thread part, the external screw-thread on the tap spindle is then screwed into the exposed shallower screw-thread part of the screw-thread in the body so that the tap spindle can maintain the auxiliary valve in an open position to enable water to flow through the inlet in the housing and, depending on the position of the tap spindle, the main valve can seal against the valve seat in the housing to shut off flow of water from the tap or be removed from the valve seat in the housing to enable water to flow through the tap, and wherein when it is desired to remove the tap spindle for maintenance, water pressure entering the inlet of the body forces the auxiliary valve to close the inlet of the housing as the spindle is removed from the breech and away from the housing so the auxiliary vale shuts off flow of water through the body.

Preferably the auxiliary valve element includes a stem which is engaged by the main valve element of the tap spindle and engagement of the main valve element with the stem causes the auxiliary valve to be pushed away from the inlet of the housing to enable water to flow through the inlet of the housing.

Preferably the seal portion on the housing comprises an O- ring located in a groove on the housing for sealing against the seat in the body.

Preferably the auxiliary valve is located in a hole in the housing and the stem is bifurcated into two portions, each of the two portions having a flange at their free ends so that the stem can be pushed through the hole in the housing and the flanges engage behind the hole to retain the stem and therefore the auxiliary valve within the hole in the housing.

In one embodiment the tap body is a breech mounted in a wall.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded view of an auxiliary valve member and tap and breech assembly according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is an assembled view of the component shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the auxiliary valve member according to the preferred embodiment of the invention (turned 90° with respect to the corresponding part shown in Figure 2) .

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, a tap body in the form of a breech 10 is shown which is normally mounted in a wall and to which is normally coupled a tap spindle 20 for controlling flow of water through the breech to an outlet of the tap (not shown) . The breech 10 has an inlet 12 coupled to a pipe for supplying water and an internal seat 14. The breech has an enlarged diameter cylindrical skirt portion 16 which has an internal screw-thread 18. The internal screw-thread 18 has a deep thread part 21 and a shallower thread part 22.

The spindle 20 has an external screw-thread 24 which is normally screw-threaded into the screw-thread 18 until a flange 26 seats on free end 28 of the breech 10. A tap spindle 28 carries a main valve 30 and the tap handle (not shown) can be attached to the free end of the tap spindle 28. By turning the tap, the spindle 28 is moved in the direction of double headed arrow A in Figure 1 so as to locate the valve 30 on the seat 14 or move the valve 30 away from the seat 14 to selectively allow flow of water through the inlet 12 and out of the breech to the outlet of the tap.

The spindle 20 is conventional and therefore further details will not be described herein.

An auxiliary valve member 50 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a housing 52 having an enlarged diameter wall section 54 and a reduced diameter section 56. The wall section 54 has outlet openings 58 and an external screw-thread 60.

As best shown in Figure 3, the reduced diameter section 56 carries a spider 60 which has inlet holes 62 drilled therethrough. A central opening 64 is also provided in the spider 60 for receiving auxiliary valve 70. The auxiliary valve 70 has a stem 72 and a valve head 74. The valve head 74 is configured in the manner described in our aforementioned Australian patent application for the reasons specified in that application and those details will therefore not be described in further detail herein.

However, the head 74 has a chamfered outer edge 76 which is intended to seat on a seat 78 of corresponding configuration on reduced diameter portion 56 when it is desired to shut off water through the auxiliary valve member 50 as will be described in detail hereinafter.

A groove 72 is provided between the enlarged diameter portion 52 and reduced diameter portion 56 and receives an O-ring 74 (see Figure 1) which is not shown in Figure 3.

The housing 50 shown in Figures 2 and 3 is screw-threaded into the breech 12 all the way into the breech 12 so that the screw-thread 60 mate with the deep screw-thread part 21 of the screw-thread 18 and the O-ring 74 seals on the seat 14. When the housing 50 is fully screwed into the breech 10, the shallower screw-thread part 22 of the screw-thread 18 is left exposed for the reason which will be explained hereinafter.

Since the housing 50 is sealed onto the seat 14 by the O- ring 74, water entering the inlet 12 can only flow through the inlet openings 62 in the spider 60 and then into the interior of the housing 52.

After the auxiliary valve member 50 has been screw-threaded into the breech 10, the spindle 20 is screwed into the shallower screw-thread part 22 of the screw-thread 18 so that the screw-thread 18 and the deep and shallower parts 21 and 22 are of such a length that the spindle 20 can be screwed into the breech 18 so that the flange 26 can still seat on the end 28 notwithstanding the fact that the auxiliary tap valve 50 has already been screwed into the breech 18.

As is also best shown in Figure 3, the stem 72 is provided with a slit 80 to bifurcate the stem 72 into legs 82 and 84. The free ends of the legs 82 and 84 have arrow-shaped flanges 86 and the stem 72 is fitted to the hole 64 by pushing the stem 72 through the hole 64 with the legs 82 and 84 flexing together by virtue of the slot 80 so that they can be accommodated by the hole 64 until the flanges 86 leave the hole 84 whereupon they are biased outwardly under the natural resiliency of the material from which the stem 72 is made so that the flanges 86 retain the stem 72 in the hole 64 and prevent the valve element from being pulled out of the hole 64.

When the spindle 20 is screwed into the screw-thread 18, the main valve 30 will engage the flanges 86 at the ends of the stem 72 and push the valve head 74 away from the seat 78 so that water can flow through the inlet openings 62.

The auxiliary valve member 50 also has an internal valve seat 90 which can be engaged by the main valve 30 to shut off water through the breech 10 and auxiliary valve member 50. In order to allow water to flow through the tap, the tap spindle 28 is simply manipulated to withdraw the main valve member 30 away from the seat 90 so that water can flow through the inlet 12, through the inlet opening 62 then out through the outlet 54 of the auxiliary valve member 50. The movement of the valve 30 from the closed position where the valve member 30 seats on the seat 90 to the fully open position is always such that the stem 72 can engage the main valve member 30 with the valve head 74 being away from the valve seat 78 so that water can always flow through the inlet opening 62 and therefore the main valve 30 controls the flow of water under normal conditions through the tap.

Water can therefore flow through the openings 54 when the main valve 30 is withdrawn from the seat 90 and out of the outlets 54 in the housing 50. The water then flows into a chamber 100 defined between the breech 10 and the housing 50 and out through an opening (not shown) in the breech 100 so as to exit the tap. If it is desired to remove the spindle for maintenance purposes, such as to replace the main valve element 30, the spindle 20 is unscrewed from the screw-thread part 22. As the spindle 20 is removed from the breech 10, water pressure on the auxiliary valve element 74 will cause the valve element 74 to be pushed in the direction of arrow B in Figures 2 and 3 and as the spindle 20 is fully removed from the breech, the auxiliary valve element 74 can seat against the seat 78 with the chamfered portion 76 engaging the seat 78 so as to shut off the inlet opening 62 and prevent water from flowing through the inlet 12 of the breech into the auxiliary valve member 50. Thus, as soon as the spindle 20 is removed for maintenance purposes, flow of water is automatically shut off from the breech 18 without the need to shut off the mains or the like.

Maintenance can therefore be performed on the spindle 20 and the spindle replaced by screwing it into the screw- thread portion 22 of the breech so that the new valve element 30 can engage the stem 72 and push the auxiliary valve element 74 in a direction opposite arrow B so as to open the inlet opening 62 and allow water to flow through the breech 18 and auxiliary valve member 50 depending on the position of the tap spindle 28 and main valve 30.

Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described by way of example hereinabove.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. An auxiliary valve member for a tap having a tap body, the body having an inlet, a seat and an internal screw-thread having a deep thread part and a shallower thread part; a tap spindle carrying a main valve and having an external screw-thread; the auxiliary valve member including: a housing having an external screw-thread for engaging the deep screw-thread part in the body and leaving the shallower screw-thread part exposed; a seal portion on the housing for engaging the seat of the body when the housing is screwed into the shallower screw-thread part; an inlet in the housing for enabling water to flow from the inlet of the body through the inlet of the housing into the housing; an auxiliary valve in the housing for shutting off flow of water through the inlet in the housing; an outlet from the housing for enabling water to flow from the housing; and a valve seat in the housing for engagement by the main valve of the tap spindle so as to selectively enable water to flow through the housing to the outlet; and wherein when the auxiliary valve member is screwed into the deep screw-thread part, the external screw-thread on the tap spindle is then screwed into the exposed shallower screw-thread part of the screw-thread in the body so that the tap spindle can maintain the auxiliary valve in an open position to enable water to flow through the inlet in the housing and, depending on the position of the tap spindle, the main valve can seal against the valve seat in the housing to shut off flow of water from the tap or be removed from the valve seat in the housing to enable water to flow through the tap, and wherein when it is desired to remove the tap spindle for maintenance, water pressure entering the inlet of the body forces the auxiliary valve to close the inlet of the housing as the spindle is removed from the breech and away from the housing so the auxiliary vale shuts off flow of water through the body.

2. The auxiliary valve member of claim 1 wherein the auxiliary valve element includes a stem which is engaged by the main valve element of the tap spindle and engagement of the main valve element with the stem causes the auxiliary valve to be pushed away from the inlet of the housing to enable water to flow through the inlet of the housing.

3. The auxiliary valve member of claim 1 or 2 wherein the seal portion on the housing comprises an O-ring located in a groove on the housing for sealing against the seat in the body.

4. The auxiliary valve member of any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the auxiliary valve is located in a hole in the housing and the stem is bifurcated into two portions, each of the two portions having a flange at their free ends so that the stem can be pushed through the hole in the housing and the flanges engage behind the hole to retain the stem and therefore the auxiliary valve within the hole in the housing.

5. An auxiliary valve member substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings .